TeaHave you ever wondered who invented the one piece swimsuit? It was Annette Kellerman, a rebel swimmer who revolutionized beach style. giving women a great new freedom
If we can wear a swimsuit, whether sophisticated or demonstrative, it’s thanks to Annette Kellerman (1886–1975): she invented it bikini, Who knows what at least gives one of the many beauties, from Baywatcher Pamela Anderson to Jennifer Lopez who was just spotted in Capri, a thought of gratitude when she slips on one. And who knows if Federica Pellegrini ever dedicated a victory to him… We all owe him a lot.
One-piece swimsuit: all thanks to Annette
It is thanks to him that we no longer go to the beach wrapped up as if we were going on an expedition to Everest, wearing trousers, socks and slippers with heavy and bulky fabric (woolen!). It is thanks to her that we can swim without bulk and if even this summer we will be able to show off amazing one-piece swimsuits that will appeal to everyone from Boomers to Gen Z. And so, we tell you her story because we’re convinced that remembering who she is is the core of what we take for granted today, even when it comes to swimwear. Which, then, go with freedom, rights and freedom. Do you find it less?
From swimming champion to revolutionary
To think Annette Kellerman was afraid of water. As a child, he suffered from rickets and was forced to use steel braces for his weak legs. However, doctors claim that swimming must have helped him. They are right to the point that Annette, at age 13, not only overcomes her disability but also becomes a swimming champion. His career is unstoppable: in London he covered a distance of 42 kilometers along the Thames. In France he competes in the Seine. She tries to cross the English Channel, fails, but is still the first woman to achieve the feat.
Annette Kellerman and her first full length
and she wears for the first time bikini Which leaves the legs and arms bare, a vulgarity according to the rigid Victorian canons that has not yet become outdated. It is 1907 and she dares to appear on the shores of Revere Beach, a Boston beach, wearing a close-fitting garment based on the men’s bathing suit, much more practical for swimming. She was arrested on the spot, but public opinion was in her favor, so much so that in 1911 the “Annette Kellerman costume” was already all the rage. The following year, in the first Olympics in which women were entered in swimming competitions, athletes wore costumes inspired by that infamous and revolutionary “one-off”. The Olympian we know today was born that way.
Evolution of the One Piece Swimsuit
More than any other garment, it represented a change of common thinking and social habits. Think, for example, of the birth of the practice of summer living, of holidays in bathing establishments developed in the first decades of the 1900s, of the discovery of the benefits of bathing in the sea and in the sun (tan tha) now’. 10), to the acceptance of tonic and vigorous silhouettes, no longer considered masculine but healthy and fit … Annette Kellerman’s one-piece swimsuit fits right into this era, a type of clothing becomes a statement against the imposition of the female gender on sports in general, for swimming in particular. You are part of a group of athletes who claim to have practiced sports at a competitive level since the early 20th century. This is why she considers the acceptance of her swimsuit her greatest success, because – as she writes in her books – the female body “is beautiful in itself, to be shown and admired with courage”. . In short, she’s a pioneer of the body positivity movement.
Swimsuit: sports and body positivity
She does so even when, in 1909, she abandons competitions to become a theatre, cinema and vaudeville actress, nicknamed the “Australian Mermaid”, the Australian mermaid, or the “Diving Venus”, the Venus that dives. earns. He took advantage of his affinity for water to make mermaids the protagonists of films of those years. In his films, always without shooting a stunt double, he swims with crocodiles, hangs over waterfalls, takes deep blue plunges. They are not actions that are an end in themselves. Her attitude gives women great confidence even when, in 1916, she featured herself in the first Hollywood nude scene on film. a daughter of the gods, Not for exhibitionism, but to claim the body of a swimmer, a woman and a creature capable of showing herself without shame. Challenging the hypocrisy of a thousand stereotypes.
One-piece swimsuit for free women
Annette has dedicated her life to spreading body care as a tool for health and not just the aesthetics and beneficial effects of swimming. writes two leading bestsellers (how to swim 1909 and Physical Beauty: How to Keep It of 1918), lectures on fitness, popularizes breathing and relaxation techniques. It supports the importance of sport for women and has a specific purpose: to convince people that wanting to get the most out of their bodies is neither immoral nor sinful, but only natural. Since 1974, his name has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Florida. He died the following year, his ashes scattered on the Great Barrier Reef in the Pacific Ocean. “There is nothing more liberating than swimming: all the chains of life are swept away by the waves,” he wrote.
annettediva in spite of herself
Among other things, the proposals of summer in terms of costumes are many and there is more than one beautiful one. Be it basic and Olympic or sophisticated and retro, cut-out or one-shoulder. But metallic or crocheted, black or floral, wear one of your pieces, hit the beach (or pool!) and enjoy every stroke. And, perhaps, for an entrance like a diva, follow the order that the judge asked her to take off her handcuffs, informs Annette: Yes, she could wear that diabolical piece, but on the condition that she Wrapped himself in a cloak opened just before entering the water. What he didn’t know was that, in spite of himself, he was helping Sydney’s Little Mermaid launch a new fashion.
